Shadow of the Moon
by Hakurei Ryuu
Summary: my very first fic, a songfic. takes place after the end of the series. Kagome runs into Kikyo, who decides it's finally time to move on. Kikyo haters welcome. Maybe you'll learn something...


**This is my first fanfic ever. Hope you like it.**

**Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takashi, and the song belongs to Blackmore's Night.**

Kagome was ecstatic. Naraku was dead, Miroku and Sango were married, and Inuyasha had finally confessed his love for her, and that he wanted her with him always. She was on her way back to the well to tell her family that she and Inuyasha were engaged.

_In the shadow of the moon  
__She danced in the starlight  
__Whispering a haunting tune  
__To the night…_

A strange sound came from somewhere to the left. Curious, Kagome turned from her well-worn path to investigate. When she was about to reach the clearing where the Goshinboku was, what she saw made her stop in her tracks.

It was Kikyo. But she wasn't wearing her usual miko outfit. She was dressed in a black long-sleeved gown. She was chanting something and, to Kagome's immense surprise, Kikyo began to dance.

_Velvet skirts spun 'round and 'round  
__Fire in her stare  
__In the woods without a sound  
__No one cared…_

She danced around the tree, spinning wildly, and all the while kept up that strange song. It was almost hypnotic, so when Kikyo started to dance away from the Goshinboku, Kagome followed her.

_Through the darkened fields entranced  
__Music made her poor heart dance  
__Thinking of a lost romance  
__Long ago…_

"Why are you following me?" Kikyo asked suddenly.

Kagome almost fell over in surprise. "I…it's just…" Kagome stammered, "That song was so pretty, even though I couldn't understand it…and I wanted to hear the rest of it."

Kikyo just stared at her, then looked up at the sky. Kagome followed her gaze. The moon was slowly disappearing: a lunar eclipse.

"Inuyasha was born on a night like this," Kikyo said softly. Kagome looked at her, and wanted to hate her, but found that she couldn't. Kikyo looked at Kagome, and wanted to hate her, but found that all her hate had been used up, leaving nothing but crushing despair.

Kikyo's legs crumpled beneath her, and she slumped to the ground. Kagome held Kikyo as she cried fifty years of unshed tears.

_Feeling lonely, feeling sad  
__She cried in the moonlight  
__Driven by a world gone mad  
__She took flight…_

The moon was almost completely gone now. "No," Kikyo said suddenly, pushing Kagome away, "I don't want this anymore."

"W-what do you mean?" Kagome asked, fearing the worst.

Kikyo just shook her head. "Take care of him," she whispered, "Give him what I couldn't. Make him happy." Kagome could only watch as Kikyo did what she had been planning to do that night all along.

"_Feel no sorrow, feel no pain,  
__Feel no hurt, there's nothing gained…  
__Only love will then remain"  
__She would say  
__Shadow of the Moon…  
__Shadow of the Moon…_

Kikyo danced away, going in a full circle until she reached her starting point: the Goshinboku. There her dance became even more wild, and her strange song grew louder and louder until she was nearly shouting.

_Somewhere just beyond the mist  
__Spirits were seen flying  
__As the lightning led her way  
__Through the dark…_

Soul-skimmers appeared out of nowhere by the hundreds; Kagome had never seen so many in her life. They flew around their mistress as she danced, so thickly that they completely obscured Kikyo from view.

"What's going on?" demanded a familiar voice. Inuyasha came from out of the woods, hand on Tetsusaiga's hilt. He saw Kagome and went to her side. "I saw the soul-skimmers and came to tell her goodbye," he said softly, staring at his first love.

The moon vanished.

A blinding light filled the clearing, forcing Kagome and Inuyasha to cover their eyes as Kikyo was bathed in brilliance. One by one, the soul-skimmers disintegrated in the light, until only five were left. These, instead, transformed into the pure energy of the souls they carried, creating a path of lightning from Kikyo to the one place her soul desperately needed to go.

Then Kikyo herself vanished, her body crumbling to the dust and ash it always was, as the dead souls that allowed her a pale shadow of life fled toward the heavens.

Kikyo's own soul followed the path the soul-skimmers had left for it.

Inuyasha caught Kagome as she fell over, feeling a physical impact as the remainder of her soul returned to her body. Breathing heavily and clutching her chest, Kagome felt a completeness in her heart she had not felt since the day she first met the love of her life.

_In the shadow of the moon  
__She danced in the starlight  
__Whispering a haunting tune  
__To the night…_

Inuyasha looked over his love with concern as tears filled her eyes. But when she whispered "Thank you" into the air, he understood.

As the moon began to wax full once again, the couple thought they heard a soft voice on the wind.

_No. Thank you._


End file.
